'Panda' sumi ink, pectin, tissue, found materials and acrylic on canvas, 14 x 11 inches.
About Recent Works
'In the beginning of this year, I found my new strange media, pectin at supermarkets's bakery section. I prefer to use found materials like this to get out of my comfort zone and get be in a here and now reality. Acrylic paint is a very comfortable material to use but mixing it with pectin can slow it down into a kind of slime that is literally organic. The slime paint is nostalgic, possibly because it is organic. Nostalgic mediums are not only organic but also fresh such as in tempera and fresco painting. My new odd method is an interesting process. I am obsessed!'
'Paman Emblem', sumi ink, pectin, tissue, found materials & acrylic on canvas, 9 x 9 inches.
left to right: 'Bath'. sumi ink, pectin, tissue, found objects & acrylic on canvas, 10 x 8 inches. 'Whistle', sumi ink, pectin, tissue, found objects & acrylic on canvas, 10 x 8 inches.
'Tortoise Neck', sumi ink, pectin, tissue, found objects & acrylic on canvas, 10 x 8 inches.
'私は東京からロサンゼルスに来ました。英語は苦手です。私が何からアートを作っているのかといえば、それらの2つの都市環境が共通して持っている快適な状況とノスタルジアです。 I came to Los Angeles from Tokyo. I am not good at English. What I make art from is some comfortable situation which those two urban environments have in common. 街のスニーカーや服はカラフルで、インスタグラムはスタイリッシュです。そして、かわいい絵文字のキャラクターも定着して久しいです。人工の、公園やレストラン、そこにいくメトロやバスはとても快適です。 Street's sneakers and clothes are colorful, and Instagram is stylish. And cute emoji characters have become established so far. The artifacts, parks and restaurants, and bus and metro taking me there are very comfortable. ビルのジャッドみたいな単純な繰り返しは私にモダニズムをおもいおこさせます。そして私にはそこで起きるいろんな他者の生の人間の活動が映画のメインキャラクターのもののように思えます。なぜならその繰り返しはわたしの生活のたいくつなこまごましたことを忘れさせるからです。 Urban buildings' Donald Judd like simple repetition reminds me the modernism. Multi others' raw human activities happening there seem like cinema's main characters` to me. Because the repetition is letting me forget my life's boring details. そして、そのこまごまとしたものがデリートされた空間をうめるのは昔見た何かです。多分テレビや漫画です。でもそれは記憶の中で変化しています。 And the contents, with which I refill that space where my life details are deleted by the urban Judd repetition, are things I saw in the past. Prolly, they are from television and manga. But they have been transformed in my memory.'
'Affair Witness', sumi ink, pectin, tissue, found objects & acrylic on canvas, 10 x 8 inches.
left to right: 'Video', sumi ink, pectin, VHS, found objects & acrylic on wood panel, 24 x 18 inches. 'Spider', sumi ink, pectin, tissue, found objects & acrylic on canvas, 24 x 20 inches.
'Behind the Diversity', sumi ink, pectin, tissue,found objects & acrylic on canvas, 28 x 22 inches.
'Touch Panel', sumi ink, pectin, tissue, found objects & acrylic on wood panel, 10 x 10 inches.
Tomoaki Shibata (b. 1981, Tokyo, Japan) works in a variety of media with a strong emphasis in painting. His highly expressive and visceral images reflect upon his life experiences and thoughts and destroy boundaries between high and low art. Although educated at one of Japan’s most prestigious art universities, his work is perhaps influenced more by manga and Japanese traditional and contemporary illustration filtered through his unique, emotive and guttural mode of expression. Shibata received his BFA from Musashino Art University, and currently lives and works in Los Angeles, CA after having received a Japanese national grant from the Agency for Cultural Affairs in 2015 for emerging artists. In 2018, Shibata collaborated with artist Loren Philip to produce the exhibition YEAR ONE curated by Peter Frank at Castelli Art Space.
'Bleeding Sheep', sumi ink, pectin, tissue, soy sauce, found objects & acrylic on paper bag, 14 x 8 inches.
'Starbucks', sumi ink, pectin, tissue, soy sauce, found objects & acrylic on paper bag, 17 x 10 inches.
left to right: 'Jonathan Gold', sumi ink, pectin, tissue, found objects & acrylic on canvas, 20 x 16 inches. 'Crystal', sumi ink, pectin, tissue, found objects & acrylic on canvas, 20 x 16 inches.
'Reincarnation', sumi ink, pectin, tissue, found objects & acrylic on canvas, 20 x 16 inches.
'Water Fall Hand', sumi ink, pectin, tissue, found objects & acrylic on canvas, 20 x 16 inches.
left to right: 'Weed Girl', sumi ink, pectin, tissue, found objects & acrylic on canvas, 20 x 16 inches. 'Brushes', sumi ink, pectin, tissue, found objects & acrylic on canvas, 20 x 16 on canvas.
'Bear', sumi ink, pectin, tissue, found objects & acrylic on canvas, 20 x 16 inches.
'Mundi Girl', sumi ink, pectin, tissue, found objects & acrylic on canvas, 36 x 24 inches.
Left to right: 'The Fall of the Rebel Angels', acrylic, glitter, paper, found objects on canvas, 28 x 22 inches. 'Great Animals', sumi ink, pectin, tissue, found objects, & acrylic on canvas, 36 x 24 inches. 'Mole Ball Lotus', acrylic, glitter, paper, Snickers wrapper & resin on canvas, 20 x 16 inches.
'Sushi Girl', sumi ink, pectin, tissue, found objects & acrylic on canvas, 36 x 24 inches.
left to right: 'Angel and Lotus', acrylic on canvas, 20 x 16 inches.
'Cant Dine in Paneer', acrylic, tissue, glitter, paper, found objects on canvas, 36 x 24 inches. 'Swollen Carf Lady', acrylic, glitter, found objects on canvas, 20 x 16 inches.
'Walt Disney', sumi ink, pectin, tissue, Found objects & acrylic on canvas, 16 x 20 inches.
left to right: 'Fuji', sumi ink, pectin & acrylic on canvas, 56 x 48 inches. 'Cave', sumi ink, pectin, found objects on canvas, 20 x 16 inches. 'Moon', sumi ink, pectin, found objects & acrylic on canvas, 20 x 16 inches.
Tomoaki Shibata in his studio.
Website: http://tomoakishibata.com
